ELEMENTS OF
DRAMA
Drama: A narrative that is meant to be
performed by actors in front of an
audience; the story is told primarily
through the speech and actions of the
characters
– Usually has a plot (the elements of Freytag’s
Pyramid)
– Contains stage directions that allow actors
and directors to stage the drama and readers
to “see” the action.
• Stage directions are typically italicized
• They explain how characters should look, speak,
move, and behave.
– Involves setting and a cast of characters
(identified at the beginning of the play)
– Consists largely of dialogue (conversation
between characters). Most of the plot and
characterization in a play is revealed
through its dialogue.
– Is divided into Acts and Scenes, which
indicate a change in location or the passage
of time (Think chapters in a book.)
Do Now: Take out your notes
and finish writing this slide
Apostrophe: Words spoken to a character,
idea, or object that is not present onstage;
often used when feelings become most
intense
Aside: Words spoken by a character in a
play to the audience or to another
character but that are not supposed to be
heard by the others onstage
Comic Relief: A humorous scene, incident,
or speech that relieves the overall
emotional intensity. By providing contrast,
comic relief helps audiences to absorb the
earlier events in the plot and get ready for
the ones to come. (In Romeo and Juliet,
the Nurse provides much comic relief.)
Dramatic Irony: The audience is aware of
something that the characters onstage are
not.
Foil: A character who is used as a contrast
to another character.
Metaphor: Figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two unlike things
WITHOUT using “like,” “as,” “resembles,”
or “than.”
Monologue: A long, uninterrupted speech
by one character while other characters
are onstage.
Puns: A play on the multiple meanings of a
word OR on two words that sound alike,
but have different meanings (see handout
on “The Pillsbury Dough Boy’s Funeral”)
Simile: Figure of speech that makes a
comparison between two things using
“like,” “as,” “resembles,” or “than”
Soliloquy: An unusually long speech in
which a character who is onstage alone
expresses his or her thoughts and feelings
aloud.
**We will add new literary elements as we
go through the play!**
TRAGEDY
A narrative (in our case, a drama)
about serious and important
actions that end unhappily.
Tragedy usually results in the death of the
main character. In some cases, the
disaster happens to innocent characters;
in others, the characters are responsible
for their own downfalls.
Shakespeare’s tragedies typically follow this
pattern:
Act I: Exposition
Act II: Rising Action
Act III: Crisis/Turning Point – The characters
make a choice the determine the direction
of the rest of the play.
Act IV: Falling Action
Act V: Resolution
**Debate exists as to where the Climax falls.
Some argue that it falls in Act III, others
argue for Act V. We will decide for
ourselves.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Sonnet – ABABCDCDEFEFGG Rhyme Scheme